Barça, champion of the Endesa League

The culé win at home (82-93) fastens the Playoff final on the fast track and dismisses Mirotic in style

MADRID, 20 Jun. (EUROPA PRESS) -

Barça was proclaimed champion of the Endesa League this Tuesday thanks to its 82-93 victory over Real Madrid in the third game of the Playoff final, clinching the overall score of the tie 3-0 and crowning the 2022/2022 season. 23 with the title that Nikola Mirotic wanted to say goodbye to the Blaugrana club in style.

In a packed WiZink Center, deafening in the early stages, the visitors signed a 0-4 start that they soon neutralized and turned the white team around with a triple from Dzanan Musa and a dunk from Guerschon Yabusele. Then Niko Mirotic, the target of the public's whistles, opened his private account, scoring his first attempt of three.

That evened the contest while Real Madrid replied with accuracy, thanks to a choral contribution. Adam Hanga and Mario Hezonja converted points thanks to the fluidity of point guard Nigel Williams-Goss, while Musa saw good passing lanes. The starting quintet of the locals was giving higher revenues, so Barça made a move.

The culé coach, Sarunas Jasikevicius, gave oxygen to his main assets except Mirotic, to whom only Sertac Sanli took over. Well defended, Nikola Kalinic wore discreet figures in the 'paint' and Rokas Jokubaitis took the baton, passing Tomas Satoransky to play '2' instead of '1'.

Despite closing the first period with a 21-20 down, the blaugranas knew how to fit the pieces together to give a stretch to make it 22-29 with a three-pointer from Kalinic, who thus released his pressure due to previous failures. The local coach, Chus Mateo, responded with a timeout that Rudy Fernández knew how to interpret with an immediate arreón.

Along with two actions protested in separate attacks by Barça, a penetration to the basket by Fabien Causeur resulted in a 2 1, after the second personal foul by Nico Laprovittola, and forged a 9-2 run with WiZink boosting his team. Mateo had entrusted the struggle to the 'sacred cows', with Sergio Rodríguez and Sergio Llull at the helm.

No luck for 'Chacho', Causeur did combine his offensives well with Llull, author of a triple to tie the score (36-36) just over two minutes before the break. Causeur himself opened a hole (39-36) with another long basket, so Jasikevicius changed his strategy in the low post, trusting Oscar Da Silva and James Nnaji.

With Sanli charged with fouls, Mirotic dry for many minutes and Jan Vesely with his peephole out of focus, the deployment of the 'highs' at Barça suffered. Neither Laprovittola, Álex Abrines nor Kyle Kuric had curdled a dreamy first half, precisely, but the Catalans prevented the wound from opening at halftime (41-38).

In fact, the visiting team returned from the locker room with a different air, making a 0-6 start with a score by Laprovittola and Vesely, already stretched. The Argentine even extended the culé advantage to 45-49 with a three-pointer, just as Mirotic did to make it 47-52 at the same time that the centers stood out on the Real Madrid side.

The insistence of Edy Tavares and Yabusele kept the locals in contention (59-59). Opposite, the Barça 'B' unit was weak except for the brilliance of Jokubaitis. And there Chus Mateo found a way to do damage, putting Vincent Poirier back on track, who got along with 'Chacho' to raise the stands with an 'alley oop' dunk (62-61).

Another good action from the French center, also a pass from the canary, was answered by a triple from Kalinic to finish the 30th minute with 66-67 in favor of culé. Mirotic scored another basket of three as soon as the fourth period began, linked to a basket by Jokubaitis that made Chus Mateo uncomfortable; timeout, 'ipso facto', requested by the local coach.

Hezonja, somewhat subdued all night, made some good offensive play, but missed a vital free throw at 68-72. The Catalan team came to go 72-79 midway through the period, so Real Madrid entrusted their future to the intimidation of Tavares under the boards. Vesely, in gusts, answered with temper in a couple of timely baskets.

With a score of 73-81 five minutes from the end, Madrid's ideas were slipping away and only Tavares acted as a beacon in attack. To make matters worse, in defense almost everything happened to try to stop Laprovittola, Vesely's regular assistant. On the merengue side, in addition, two triples from Causeur and 'Chacho' Rodríguez did not enter at hot moments.

Gradually, Barça touched the title with each well-worked basket, although this time a three-pointer from 'Chacho' reduced the gap (80-85). At 1:38 from the final honk, Mirotic 'danced' Hezonja under the hoop; the Spanish-Montenegrin scored, took out the Croatian's free kick and made the entire visiting bench stand up for joy.

Mirotic, the man in the final more for extra-sports than for sports, transformed the free kick to give Barça a lead of 10 (80-90). He sounded like a sentence and the 'Berserkers' understood it that way, singing chants to preventatively mitigate the rest of the WiZink's discomfort. The last blows remained, but there was no epic.

The meringues had spent their cartridges of heroic a month before in the Euroleague, culminated successfully for their interests. However, the Endesa League brought the curtain down with an outcome controlled by Barça until they emerged as the eternal rival's home champion. 82-93, timer running out and hugs everywhere, and with Mirotic monopolizing the spotlight of glory.

--RESULT: REAL MADRID, 82 - BARÇA, 93. (41-38, at halftime).

Real Madrid: Williams-Goss (4), Hanga (4), Musa (9), Yabusele (10) and Tavares (19) -- the starting quintet -- Sergio Rodriguez (3), Hezonja (7), Causeur (11) , Llull (8), Rudy Fernandez (-) and Poirier (7).

BARÇA: Satoransky (8), Laprovittola (12), Abrines (2), Mirotic (14) and Vesely (21) --starting five--; Sanli (6), Kalinic (10), Kuric (3), Jokubaitis (13), Nnaji (2) and Da Silva (4).

-- PARTIALS: 21-20, 20-18, 25-29 and 16-26.

--REFEREES: Peruga, Jiménez and Torres. No deleted.

--PAVILION: WiZink Center, 11,965 spectators.